American manned rocketplane. The Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor was a mixed-power interceptor, being powered by both a jet engine and by a battery of rocket motors. Although it showed promise, it was not put into production.

Status: Operational 1951. Gross mass: 12,830 kg (28,280 lb).

Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor by Joe Baugher

The project began in 1946 when Alexander Kartveli and his team at Republic Aviation began to explore the possibility of using rocket engines to power aircraft. The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet of World War 2 had demonstrated that truly spectacular performance could be attained with rocket propulsion, although at the expense of an extremely short endurance and a very low combat radius. Republic proposed to overcome this inherent disadvantage of rockets by using a conventional jet engine for cruising flight, with rocket engines being used only for fast takeoff and climb to combat altitude and for extra boost during combat emergencies.

In 1948, Republic submitted its ideas to the USAF. The Republic proposal was to be powered by a single 5200 lb.st. General Electric J47-GE-3 turbojet engine, augmented by four Reaction Motors XLR11-RM-9 rocket motors of 1500 lb.st. each. Two rockets were located above the jet engine exhaust, two below.

The fuselage had some resemblance to the F-84 Thunderjet, with some parts actually being in common. However, an entirely new wing was to be fitted. The cantilever, mid-mounted wing was swept back at an angle of 35 degrees and had a variable incidence. This meant that the wing could be pivoted around its attachment point to the fuselage, allowing the angle of incidence to be adjusted by the pilot for the most effective angle during takeoff, cruise, and landing. In contrast to the usual practice, the swept wing was thicker and wider at the tip than it was at the roots. It was hoped that this unusual wing configuration would provide greater lift outboard and would reduce the tendency of the wingtips to stall at low speeds.

The retractable landing gear consisted of a single nose wheel plus a pair of main landing gear members attached to the wings. The nose wheel was fairly conventional, and retracted forward into the forward part of the nose. The main landing gear was anything but conventional. Each of the main landing gear members consisted of a pair of bogie-type wheels mounted in tandem. Since the wing roots were too thin to accommodate the main landing gear wheels when retracted, the landing gear retracted outwards, the wheels being stowed inside the thickened wingtips.

The design featured a ventral-mounted airbrake, and was to be equipped with a braking parachute to shorten the landing run. A pressurized, air-conditioned cockpit was provided, and the cockpit canopy was similar to that of the F-84.

The USAF was sufficiently impressed that they ordered two examples of this design under the designation XF-91. Serials were 46-680 and 46-681.

The first prototype (46-680) took to the air for the first time at Edwards AFB on May 9, 1949, Carl Bellinger being the pilot. The first flights were powered by the turbojet alone. Later that year, flights were made with an afterburner and then later with the rocket engines installed. In December 1951, the XF-91 became the first American combat aircraft to go supersonic in level flight. When all five powerplants were running, the XF-91 could achieve a maximum speed of 1126 mph (Mach 1.71). Not bad for the early 1950s!

The XF-91 showed signs of having the potential of developing into an excellent warplane. However, the Korean War had demonstrated that Mach 1 could be exceeded by aircraft that were considerably less sophisticated than the XF-91, and this extremely advanced warplane never saw production. Tests continued with the two prototypes. One was flown experimentally with a V-type butterfly tail, and the first XF-91 was refitted with a nose radome housing an APS-6 radar installation in the same manner as the F-86D Sabre.

The second prototype was eventually destroyed, but the first XF-91 (46-680) was currently on display at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum.